Stop The Clocks
by The Very Last Valkyrie
Summary: 'And I know you think those pretty eyes are nothing much to see...' The day of Lucy's birth through the eyes of six people who watch as beauty runs wild in a hospital room in New York. Dantana.


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**Stop The Clocks**

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**i. Jenna Ambrich, lab technician**

Adam comes running in here like someone set off a firecracker in his pants. "Keys!" He practically yells. "I need keys, any keys!"

Everyone eyes him askance, but only I have the courage to ask: "Why?"

"Lindsay's back from Montana." His eyes are rolling like pinwheels. "And her water's broken, which means contractions, and a baby, Lindsay's baby, and Lindsay and Danny's baby will be born soon and I -"

I slap him, because there really isn't much else I can do; I like Adam, but I'm an unashamed fan of Lindsay. Her first week here, she found me crying in the ladies' room after my boyfriend of three years broke my heart and crashed my car. She took me out for hot chocolate, handed me tissues in a never-ending stream and told me I deserved better. It's for her sake that I pull Adam's collar straight and point. "Your keys are there, on the table, but make sure that trace you were looking at isn't stuck to them. Tell Lindsay I said good luck! I hope it all goes well!"

* * *

**ii. Ellen Green, midwife**

Almost better than seeing old friends - the ones who are back for their second or third or fourth baby - is seeing the new faces. Today, I have a pretty brown-eyed woman who tells me that her name is Lindsay and that she works at the NYPD crime lab. She notes my surprise at the stumble over her full name, and blushes. "We haven't been married very long," she says, and then smiles. "But it's Messer, Lindsay Messer. And if you get a crazy guy running in here and asking for Montana, that'll be my Danny." The young man beside her seems even more nervous than she is - unsurprising, really. He introduces himself as Adam Ross: lab technician, surfer and possible birth partner (though he does go a little green at this part). Lindsay laughs, and pats him on the shoulder before patting her bump. "Daddy will be here, little girl," she promises. "Don't you start going anywhere until he is."

I meet Danny Messer, and I have no doubt that these two - soon to be three - will go the distance.

* * *

**iii. Don Flack, detective**

"Felix, you're a career criminal. I think you know how this goes." I brace my arms on the table and tower over him, but _man_ do these scratches Jess left on my back smart. She's a wildcat, no mistake, but I may have to sacrifice both my dignity and my cojones and ask her to go a little easy on me next time.

"Don't know whatcha talking 'bout." Felix Botinazzio is a filthy piece of scum, the type you wouldn't even want stuck to the sole of your shoe. His belly bulges over his belt, rolls of fat dripping from the arm and neckholes of a shirt already damp with sweat. He stinks to high heaven, and so help me I am going to get him to confess to ordering a hit on Giovanni whoever-it-was' cousin if it _kills_ me. This baby business...it changes people. I've never heard Lindsay so much as raise her voice before, but the things she was yelling when I talked to Danny? Nasty.

"Listen, pal." I get right up in his face and spook him - I can tell, 'cause his eyes go wide. "I have a friend in labour right now, and you'd better man up and confess or you'll be telling her why I was last in line for the 'it's a girl!' cigars!" My voice drops to a whisper, like we're suddenly in cahoots. "She's from Montana, you know, way out. She likes to skin things."

Fastest confession I ever got.

* * *

**iv. Stella Bonasera, CSI**

Despite appearances, this isn't my first time at the rodeo. Back when Mac and I were still prickly around each other and Danny and Lindsay were nothing but little twinkles in the police academy's eye, a suspect of mine went into labour right there in the interview room and, for some reason, wanted me with her at the hospital. For eight _hours_ I walked up and down those corridors, holding her hand and vowing I would never have kids as long as I lived. She was grateful, pathetically so; there were bruises on her face where her baby daddy had hit her. While she was practising Lamaze breathing, I managed to match the mark on her red, swollen cheek to one we'd found at the crime scene. The guy went down for life, and I got to hold the most beautiful baby boy in the entire world a mere few minutes after he'd entered it.

Lindsay's so strong: an anchor for Danny (and no one could have needed one more, if you ask me). She clutches a fire extinguisher and her face crumples, and I rub her back just where that beautiful beaten girl showed me to.

* * *

**v. Lindsay Monroe, woman in labour**

I need it to stop. Why won't it stop? I thought losing Danny was hard, but having him back is like saying goodbye, Heartbreak Hotel and hello to feeling like my entire body is tearing apart at the seams. When I went home, all proud of the shiny new marriage license in my hand luggage and the even prouder curve of my belly standing out in front of me, my mother told me that after three boys, having me was a breeze. I can now affirm that not only is she the bravest woman I've ever known, but also the strongest. Never again. Not even this time. I can't do this. I can't go under the - oh my God, oh my God, oh God oh God oh God..._breathe_, _yell_, damn damn damn _damn _-

Holy - are you mine? Are you really mine?

* * *

**vi. Danny Messer, father of one**

Nope. Nothing. Not even if I tried.


End file.
